Indian Horse, Vue Omni, Edinburgh International Film Festival

Saul Indian Horse and his brother are taken into the wilderness to avoid being taken by 'the white man' and sent to one of the residential schools in which children of the indigenous population were separated from their families and forcibly indoctrinated into christianity.  Despite the best efforts of his grandmother (less so his parents who have already been converted), Saul ends up in Saint Jerome's where the only thing he learns is how to survive the cruelty of the priests and nuns who make life hell for the children.  His saviour proves to be hockey, the national sport, which the apparently kinder Father Gaston has introduced to the limited range of activities available.  At first Saul is too young to be allowed to play, but through offering to clear the rink each day he teaches himself how to skate and handle a stick (including a very imaginative way of creating his own pucks) he soon shows he has a natural gift for the sport.

It will eventually take him away from the regime he's been subjected to, and towards a potential future as a pro hockey player.  But the racism that underlay the school system also permeates the crowds he must play in front of and it becomes clear that it will require much more than his talent if he's to make it to the top.

Although the film is based on Richard Wagamese's novel of the same name, the opening, packed with information about the brutal residential school system, and narrated by the adult Saul, gives it the feel of a docudrama, something it fails to sustain.  Three actors play Saul at different times of his life, but they become less convincing with age, and it's the six year old 1959 version (Sladen Peltier) who gives the best performance.

As an introduction to the iniquities of the treatment meted out to First Nation children (the system was only finally closed down in 1996) this is a powerful statement, showing the Catholic church in Canada to be the equal in their inhumanity to the Magdalen Laundries in Ireland.  It's also a reminder, through some excellent action sequences, of what a powerful cultural force hockey is in the country, and why it's one of the world's great sports.  But as a drama it sometimes feels let down by plot devices that jar rather than flow.  Well worth seeing, but there's a sense this could have been a better movie if the director had let the story tell itself.

Oh, and if any Caps fans happen to read this.... you'll have memories of our great #23 from a few years back.